[imbaine13]

Hello everyone,

This is my first build and I've already gone against most people's advice of making a small first machine. At 600mm x 300mm x 75mm cutting volume, I think it will be a fairly large one, but I'm eager to see what lies ahead. I live in Africa and its really hard to ship things bought off the internet, so my biggest objective will be to source as many of the required parts as possible from local venders. Everything that will require tooling will be done by hand tools besides drilling (drill press), grinding, and perhaps cutting (angle grinder) the steel. The design I came up with doesn't require that much accuracy for drilling, so a drill press will suffice. All the bolts that will hold the machine together will be M8 bolts, besides those I'll use to attach the stepper motors, which will probably be M5. The plan, in short, will be to use a 9mm drill bit for the M8 bolt holes so i have a fair bit of play within the holes, which will help me make minor adjustments when assembling. This will especially come in handy when fixing up the linear slides nice and tight with as little play as possible. Most of the machine will be made up of standard 25mm x 25mmx 6000mm steel box tubing.
I have bought some of the items I'll need on eBay, just waiting for them to arrive. I hope they reach me by post office *fingers crossed* (like I said, the physical address and mail delivery system in Africa still has a long way to go, so post office is probably my best bet at the moment). For now, a few snapshots of the frame are all I've got. I did the design in Sketch Up and I have attached the file so anyone can have a closer look and do with it what they may. Any ideas (from noobs to pros ) are welcome. I decided on a metal frame for the machine because I don't have the tools to machine MDF or other wood for that matter and hope I don't regret it!

Isaac.